


Journey's End

by everyours



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M, extreme butchering of norse mythology, goes to valhalla, infinity war fix it fic, loki dies at the start of IW, not much thorbruce but i put the tag there so people wouldn't get the wrong impression, odin's shitty parenting, pursuades Hela to take him to the land of the living to save the Asgardians, the odinson sibling trio we Deserved, they're siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 16:06:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15123026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyours/pseuds/everyours
Summary: Loki dies at the start of Infinity War - ending up in Valhalla. However, he then tries to persuade Hela to help him return to the land of the living to save Thor and the Asgardians (perhaps even destroy Thanos). General chaos ensues.





	Journey's End

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I did start writing this at 2am. You can really tell. I'm uploading this at a ridiculous time in the morning because I leave for 5 weeks and I wanted to upload this before then. I apologise in advance for the inconsistent tenses, I'm working on it.

Loki Odinson didn’t die at the hand of Thanos without a plan.

However, his plan was terrible, overdramatic and completely unfeasible. Thor instantly and completely failed to carry out any of the required steps needed for it to succeed in any way. To be fair to his brother, perhaps Loki should’ve told him the plan before Loki had died…

There’s no point dwelling on the past, Loki thought to himself, as he rapidly came up with a new plan, that somehow had to overcome the fact he was now dead. And in Valhalla. It was a nice surprise that he’d made it there after all – ignoring the fact that his esteemed father was nowhere in sight. How convenient. But he didn’t have the time to look for Odin.

The prince of Asgard looked around, taking a moment to absorb his surroundings. As all the fables had said, there was Valhalla – a massive, intricately built hall surrounded by Glasir, the golden trees that seemed to reflect the light against each other. Coupled with the majestic building, the whole area seemed to glow golden, as if the sun was setting and bathing everything in her light. The grass was soft beneath his feet and he could see animals - deer and goats - grazing peacefully beside the trees. From the hall he could hear the roar of conversation and the smell of the feast within. 

Despite all its beauty, he didn’t wish to enter the hall. Didn’t wish to meet his father. Didn’t wish for Odin to see that his son (his son!) had once again failed with devastating consequences. Loki turned his head away from the edifice, only to see a rolling grass meadow.

He was surprised. Usually Fólkvangr was nought but a children’s tale. It was told to be a counterpart of Valhalla, a field ruled over by the All-Mother rather than Odin, in which half of those who die in battle were taken. However it was mostly overlooked in favour of Valhalla and Odin’s reign. In spite of the part of Loki that wanted to see his mother again, he couldn’t do it. Guilt built up inside him. He needed to focus on the task at hand instead – otherwise he was certain that Thor and the rest of what remained of Asgard would be joining him shortly enough.

On the boundary between the two areas, he saw a solitary figure with their back to him. Loki recognised her and hence made his plan even more complex and difficult to pull off. Excellent. His mind was working overtime to come up with the best possible strategy, even as he was walking over to her. It was probably safest not to trick her, he thought.

“Hela. What a lovely surprise to see you again.” She turned around, a look of faint disgust on her face. She looked younger, somehow - no longer in her full armour, her eyes surprisingly pale without the dark charcoal that had surrounded them. 

“Ah. You. Did I succeed in killing you after all?”

“No. Thanos did.”

“Huh.”

God, it really had been a long couple of weeks. Maybe if he moved fast enough he wouldn’t have to think about all the consequences. Norway, Sakaar, Asgard and now, Valhalla. Hela turned to walk away but he called out to her,

“You’re still the Goddess of Death, right? You can get us out of here. We have to save Thor.”

“No. Absolutely not. Why in Odin’s name would I do that? I spent the last few days trying to murder him.” She fixed him with a piercing glare, dammit she was still intimidating, but they’d already defeated her once and Loki was determined.

“Well, do you really want Thor here with you? I’m sure I’m bad enough.”

He tried to appeal to a more humorous side. If it existed. She may be his sister (though not by blood, the voice in his head told him) but he really didn’t know her at all. She rolled her eyes and continued to walk away. But Loki, who’d spent his whole life being overlooked, overshadowed and ignored didn’t give up that easily. He followed her, easily catching up, while at the same time saying,

“Surely you don’t want all that’s left of Asgard to perish? I thought you wanted what was best for them. What you thought was best perhaps was a bad idea but still. It was Odin who put those thoughts in your head – he did a similar thing to me. He fills your existence with his lies and deceit and then never takes responsibility for his actions. Do you really want to be like him? To end up like him? Because we can fix this. We can save Asgard, save our brother. We have to.”

His voice broke slightly over the last words - he didn’t realise how much he cared about this. It was a little embarrassing, really. Hela didn’t leave so Loki spent the next few hours (he assumes hours, he doesn’t really know how time works in the afterlife.) talking to her (or, talking at her), desperate to convince her to help them. At one point he talked about how despite everything, Thor still tried to save him, when he was hanging off the bifrost, and the numerous times before and since that. That all seemed such a long time ago, now, a decidedly domestic scene.

“And then, I let go!” He said it the same way he always told that story – light-hearted. As if it was an everyday occurrence. However, Hela looked at him with barely concealed concern. She knew better than to confront it outright - or perhaps she just didn’t care to delve into that particular issue. 

“When I was growing up, we used to have races along the Bifrost. Did you ever do stuff like that?” She spoke carefully, without looking at him. Internally, Loki celebrated. She was finally talking to him. He was amazed she had lasted this long of him speaking. He’d always been told that he was completely insufferable. 

“Uh, no. Heimdall banned that when we were children. I always found that unfair – I only tried to throw Thor off the edge once. Or maybe twice.” He trailed off, deep in memories for a moment.  
Hela seemed to consider something before she sighed deeply and said,

“Fine. What’s your plan then?” 

Loki rejoiced. And also panicked, because, damn he hadn’t thought this far – he’d been entirely focused on getting Hela on his side. This fact apparently was obvious because Hela looked even more annoyed than usual.

“To be fair, I wasn’t planning on dying.” He retaliated at her unspoken comment. Hela gave her brother a look that seemed to say “Yeah, neither was I. Deal with it.” That was really helpful of her.

“Heimdall.” Loki said.  
Hela looked confused.

“The gatekeeper? What about him?”

“No, Heimdall. Look.” And yes, the man in question was making his way over to them. No one had dared interrupt them before, but Heimdall had no such qualms. Before he was close to them, Hela muttered to Loki,

“I didn’t kill that one, right?”  
She looked like she regretted her decision to help already.

“No. But I fear that I did.” He replied as he moved to meet Heimdall with a diplomatic smile plastered upon his face. But Heimdall, all-seeing and all-hearing (how could Loki possibly forget that key fact) disagreed with that.

“Thanos is the one that killed us, Loki. You know that.”  
Loki filed that mental argument into his mind to debate over at another time.

“Do you think you could help us? We need to destroy Thanos.” He went to add to his argument but Heimdall stopped him by raising his hand.

“I’m well aware, of course I’ll help. We’re the Revengers after all, are we not? Revenge Asgard.”  
Loki felt the faint tendrils of hope rise within him. Maybe they could do this. Heimdall’s eyes glazed over, as if he was looking somewhere else, (which he probably was) before snapping back to the present moment and saying somewhat urgently,

“You’ll need to leave now. I cannot come with you, I am sorry.” At the same time, he motioned them to follow him towards a copse of golden trees. 

“Go through here, and it’ll take you to Thor.” Hela slipped through the gap in the trees and was gone. Loki went to follow but Heimdall caught his arm. The man seemed hesitant before he faced Loki and said,

“When you come back,” When, not if. Loki couldn’t tell if that was comforting or not. “Talk to your mother. Please. She misses you dearly and forgives you.”

Loki didn’t want to think about that. He gave Heimdall one last look paired with a somewhat shaky nod. Then, not trusting himself to say anything else coherent, darted through the opening in the trees. He staggered out, before quickly regaining his balance when he realised Hela was watching him. In the brief moments they’d been apart, her armour had reappeared. He followed suit but as he looked at his arm clad in armour, a thought came into his mind and he asked her,

“If we’re already dead, we can’t die again right?” She nodded, her dark cape rippling as she moved. Great. This was going to be fun.

“Out of curiosity, what did you use to go up against Thanos the last time?”  
Loki had enough retrospect to look sheepish when he replied with,  
“Knives.”  
Hela looked at him sharply (haha),

“Really? That’s disappointing.”

“It was part of the plan!”

She rolled her eyes at her younger brother and Loki took the chance to look around. They were on a planet that seemed similar to Earth but at the same time different. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it but he also didn’t really care. Ahead of them, he could see the only building in sight. And a large shape making its way up to it. Someone he could recognise anywhere. Thor.

\----------------------------  
Thor, who had thought all of his people were dead because of him. Valkyrie and Korg, who’d taken the other half of the Asgardians, have had no further contact with him. So he’d assumed the worst. And, after everything, he couldn’t even avenge them successfully. Couldn’t defeat Thanos. It was Thor who was responsible for Thanos destroying half the universe.

So he’d done what he had to do. The remaining survivors had all converged on Earth and promptly got into a massive quarrel over what to do while at the same time - doing nothing at all. Something about Stark and Rogers falling out over something or other. It did not matter in the slightest. So, Thor had gone to find Thanos by himself. 

If he didn’t manage to kill him a second time then well, perhaps that was fate.   
At least Thor would be able to see his family again.  
\----------------------------

And well, you know how it goes.

It truly was a spectacular sight, the combination of all their attacks. The savagery of Hela’s necroswords combined with Loki’s magic to render them invisible, complete with the sheer force of Thor’s lightning. Overall, an excellent family bonding experience. It even allowed Hela to let out a little of her excess anger. Thanos did not stand a chance, even if the infinity gauntlet had been fully functional. 

After Thanos was lying in the dirt, bleeding out, Thor looked up at them.

“I know you both aren’t really here.” Loki could barely see Thor’s face under all the blood and dirt. He sounded older and wearier than his 1500 years. Defeated somehow, even though the villain was lying dead at his feet.

“It was nice to see you again though. Even you, Hela.” Thor continued on, though he seemed like he was expecting no response. Thor gazed down at the infinity stones, which were encased in a misshapen wedge of metal. They looked even smaller than they had before, insignificant within the vast universe.

Loki stood motionless, as his mind struggled to process what was happening. It was only when Thor spoke a third time, to say,

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry I let this happen to Asgard. And I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, Loki.”  
That Loki came to his senses and said, simply, with no real malice,

“Thor, you are such an idiot.”  
Thor looked startled as Loki stumbled forward and pulled Thor into a hug. He was pretty sure his brother then started crying. And well, if Loki was as too, that was nobody’s business but his own. 

“You’re alive?” Thor asked them both once they let go. His voice shook slightly.

Loki looked at Hela, who shrugged.  
“Kind of.” Thor beamed. That was good enough for him, it seemed. Thor dragged Hela into an awkward-looking side hug while at the same time saying to her,

“It’s good to see you changed your mind about everything.” She didn’t resist, and only looked mildly annoyed. Loki was amazed, Thor really could bring the best out in anyone. Screw you Odin, they were all better off without him.

“What do we do now then?” Hela questioned, as she pushed off Thor’s arm.

“Well, I guess we should take this back to Earth.” Thor motioned towards the gauntlet. “I think they know how to destroy it and bring back the people it vanquished.”

“Heimdall’s dead. How will we get there?” Loki really didn’t want to get stuck on a completely foreign planet with his siblings. They were all getting on for now, but no one couldn’t tell how long that’d last.

“Oh, using this.” Thor swung the axe he’d used to kill Thanos around. Well, that wasn’t dangerous at all. Could easily take someone’s eye out. Loki considered making a reference to other members of the group who’d proved themselves equally capable of taking an eye out, but decided against it. The joke would probably fall flat and Hela’s helmet looked far too dangerous and far too close to eye level for comfort.

“Hold this and hold on to Hela.” Thor said. He picked up and tossed the gauntlet at Loki while, at the same time linking arms with Hela.

“What the fu-“ Loki managed to stammer out as the Bifrost hurled them across the galaxy and spat them out on what he assumed was Earth. And oh, joy of joys, Thor had landed them right in the midst of “Earth’s Mightiest Defenders”. It looks like they had added some new members. Delightful.

Sadly, Stark was still kicking about and recognised Loki - who had no time to react before the man of iron shot a repulsor blast straight through the god’s heart. Really? Loki just couldn’t catch a break.

“No!” Thor bellowed, a furious look on his face. Loki didn’t even move and merely gave Stark a look that dared him to try again, before saying to his brother,

“Thor. You moron. You cannot kill someone who’s already dead.”

“Oh.”

“Would you like me to destroy that man for you?” That was Hela. She appeared as a formidable figure with the sunlight streaming in from behind her. The angles of her helmet created an intimidating shadow and also hid her face, which was good because Loki was sure she was laughing at them all. And oh, all of a sudden she had a sword in each hand. Loki knew they were just for show, she could easily kill Stark without them but it was nice she was standing up for him. Loki pretended to consider her offer, slowly tilting his head. Stark hesitated, his dark eyes going wide, before faltering out,

“Thor? Are you really going to let her kill me?”

The surrounding onlookers watched the proceedings curiously. Unsurprisingly, none of them tried to get in between Hela and her victim. Loki didn’t really take in who else was there, they didn’t matter. Apart from perhaps Banner, simply because Thor was completely in love with him.   
Thor looked back from where he was gazing at Bruce to reply,

“Hm? Oh yeah, that’s Hela! She’s my sister. Isn’t that great? And Loki’s here too!”  
Thor was never as oblivious as he let on but Loki was happy to follow his lead.

“Oh, I suppose you’ll be wanting the infinity gems?” Thor then addressed the group politely and at large, as he seemed unsure who was actually in charge at this point in time. It tended to vary.

“What? Yes, of course, that’s the whole point…?” Stark trailed off, clearly confused. It wasn’t a good look on him. Thor turned to Loki expectantly, who then rummaged around in thin air to reveal what remained of the infinity gauntlet. Thor gave him a look that seemed to say “Really? Again?” A woman, who was stood at the side of the group and holding a dangerous looking spear, murmured something to her companion, who was similarly dressed. She nodded at her and then spoke quietly into a bracelet on her wrist.

“What, I wasn’t just going to leave it lying about.” He muttered to his brother before he went to hand him the gauntlet.

“Are you really going to trust that he’s handing over the real one?” Stark was sounding overtly brave for someone threatened with death (by the Goddess of Death, nonetheless) only mere seconds ago. Thor looked at Loki, stood beside him with the gems in his outstretched hand.

Then, all of a sudden it was too much. For a moment Loki wasn’t stood in a field beside a city, he was on board a ship that didn’t even exist anymore with a fist around his throat. A taste of ash and blood in his mouth. His brother’s last words were echoing in his ears, strangely fitting and utterly damning. He managed to gasp out but words refused to form. Surely he had escaped? Surely his journey had not ended on that ship. What if everything had just been an elaborate ploy in his mind and in reality – he had amounted to nothing. What if-

“Loki.” Hela’s strong voice took him back to the present. He looked at his hand. It was shaking slightly. He swiftly composed himself as he handed over the gems to his brother, who shot him a worried look. Honestly, there was no need for that. He was completely fine. Thankfully, people were looking at Stark (he was saying something but Loki didn’t catch it) rather than Loki. Stark then went to take the gauntlet but Thor seemed wary. Ooh, drama. Anyways, before Stark could speak or take it, one of the women with spears stepped in between them, effectively blocking the transition, and turned to face the building. Her partner mirrored her to watch as a figure ran full pelt towards them.

It turned out to be a girl who, like everyone else, looked exhausted but also, incredibly determined. She walked straight up to Thor, with the two women then flanking her. Guards, Loki guessed. 

“This is Shuri, Princess of Wakanda.” Said someone out of his direct sight. It might have been Banner. Thor straightened up and bowed his head at her. Great, more royalty. Perhaps this royal family would be more functional than theirs. Thor then seemed to flounder for a moment before offering her the gauntlet. Really? Thor didn’t know her at all. One of the guards seemed to be in the same train of thought and stopped the girl from taking it.

“It’s not dangerous if we simply touch the metal. It seems to be broken but I will be able to use it nonetheless.” She says to the guard.

“Use it for what?” Loki asks. After all, he wasn’t too keen on another evil being using the gems to kill people and wreak havoc among the universe. Oh, how times had changed. What was happening to him. He didn’t know what he said but at once, both spears were pointed at his neck. It seems like they were taking no chances at the moment. Fair enough. 

“You speak Xhosa?” One of the guards demanded. What?

“Oh! Us Asgardians have All-Speak. It allows us to communicate via the language you’re most comfortable in.” Thor interjected helpfully, doing nothing at all to stop his brother from getting stabbed. True – it didn’t matter if he did get decapitated but the spears seemed to be more of a warning than a physical attack. Shuri gave them a look before going back to the task at hand, taking the gauntlet.  
“You used that axe to get here? How?” 

“I’m not quite sure, Eitri said I’d be able to kill Thanos with it but it also seems to command the Bifrost.” He thought for a second before handing it over as well. Why not! Go ahead! Honestly. Shuri then turned and swiftly makes her way back into the castle, the two guards now following her. Bruce decided to take the chance to move to beside Thor, take his hand, and say,  
“She’s incredibly smart. She’ll fix everything.”  
“It might take her some time though.” Stark warned them.

\----------------------------

It didn’t take the Princess long to return the universe to its rightful state. About an hour.  
It seemed she spent part of that time figuring out the axe and therefore used it to return the Midgardians that were stranded on another planet back to Earth. Delightful. More importantly, she discovered (per Thor’s request) the rest of the Asgardians. They had been hidden out of reach behind a nearby planet, once they’d seen all the destruction ravaged on Earth by Thanos. It was decided easier for them to fly normally to Wakanda (for that is where they were) rather than use the Bifrost. Even despite this, it would only take hours for them all to be reunited. 

In the meantime, the three siblings stood by themselves. They were near enough to the palace building if they were needed, but not close enough to be witnessing all the tearful reunions. It was still fresh enough in their minds – Thor and Loki at least, that the majority of the people they had lost were not coming back into the land of the living. Thor seemed to be deep in thought for a moment before saying earnestly,

“If you are both here, then let us rule over Asgard together. It seems to be the best possible solution to allow Asgard to survive. Thrive even. We can pool all our strength and our knowledge.” Loki and Hela shared a look. Neither of them had the heart to say no to Thor. Loki also didn’t think Hela, like him, wanted to return to Valhalla anytime soon. Odin would probably be pleased if they never turned up again – at least, if they didn’t have Thor with them.

So, they stayed.  
A new era for Asgard.

“What could go wrong?” Thor’s voice quipped. Loki’s brain swiftly reminded him of all the murder, mind control, destruction of Asgard, slaughter of most of the Asgardian people and his own death. And that was only in the last few years.

“What could go wrong indeed.”

They stood there, side by side, as equals, looking out over the grasslands until their people returned to them. By then, the sun was dipping low towards the horizon and their silhouettes stretched out as long shadows behind them.

\----------------------------

Later on, when Thor had left him in charge of what remained of the Asgardians and Hela was god knows where (though this particular god didn’t know) Loki was having slight second thoughts. The people were all milling around the starship, glad to be out of immediate danger and had seen him stood by himself. Then they’d all starting coming over to him. And speaking to him

“So, Loki, I left a particularly nice scarf on Asgard. Any chances of being reimbursed?”

“Loki, theatre night will be returning, yes?” 

“My sister said my cousin told her that you can do magic. We lost my brothers toy on Asgard and he refuses to sleep without it.” Who was he, a childminder? He was the crown prince! And a frost giant! And yet here he was, attempting to perfect an illusion of a stuffed wolf that looked suspiciously like Fenris for a bawling toddler. He started to wish he’d employed someone other than Skurge to guard the Observatory so Thor’d never come back in the first place. 

But then he looked around, and saw Asgardian children playing among the grass, Thor making incredibly awkward small talk with Romanoff as he waited for Bruce and, Hela and Valkyrie (the latter none too pleased to be reunited with Hela) making their way towards him, hauling supplies.  
Somehow, it wasn’t too bad. Truly, there was nowhere in the universe he’d prefer to be.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!  
> I greatly appreciate any comments.


End file.
